NAVYA, a scale-up supported by EIT Digital, raises 4.1M Euros

NAVYA ARMA can transport up to 15 passengers and safely drives up to 45 km/h. Intelligent and reliable, it can adapt to any situation by avoiding the static and dynamic obstacles.

EIT Digital is proud to announce that NAVYA, one of its supported scale-ups, which launched a 100% autonomous, driverless and electric shuttle in October 2015, has just raised an investment of 4.1M Euros.

NAVYA develops driverless shuttles in order to optimise the transportation of personnel, visitors or service agents on the last miles, in private or public sites (e.g.: airports, hospitals, industrial sites, amusement parks etc). The company has established itself as a specialist in the field, renowned for using complex technologies combining software expertise, automobile construction and advanced techniques in navigation, geolocation and telecommunication.

NAVYA is based in Lyon and Paris, France and employs 50 people now. Its CEO, Christophe Sapet, is a serial-entrepreneur (Infonie, Infogrames Entertainment) who is fond of digital and automobile. In October 2015, after 10 years of R&D around artificial intelligence and decision planning leading to sophisticated software and algorithms, the scale-up launched the ARMA, a 100% autonomous, driverless and electric shuttle, assembled in Lyon (see video on the right).

Initially, NAVYA’s funding came from Robolution Capital and from the company’s CEO himself. In January 2016, new partners joined the investors pool: CapDecisif Management with the Regional Co-Investment Funds (FRCI), the investment holding company Gravitation, a group of Business Angels and some of the company employees. Thanks to this new pool, NAVYA has secured a 4.1M Euros fundraising.

"This additional funding will give NAVYA the means to accelerate its development in Europe and worldwide" says Christophe Sapet.

NAVYA joined the EIT Digital Accelerator in 2015 in the Urban Life & Mobility Action Line. The scale-up needed to raise funds. EIT Digital allowed NAVYA to get traction from its European business ecosystem by introducing it to investors, in the UK and in Finland, and to one of its potential first big customers. Eventually, the scale-up convinced and leveraged in France the funds needed to develop in Europe. And EIT Digital will be there to help too.